Verbal Spontaneous Prayer

Caleb tonight started to follow my pattern of prayer.... which is that I just pray and thank God for things and ask for help along the way. Basically it's a verbal spontaneous prayer. I'm having an ongoing conversation where I include God. SO... tonight I'm sitting at the computer and I hear Caleb talking, "God help me to get through Mario level 8 please..." I asked him if he was praying and he said, "Yea Dad. I need God to help me win this." I responded that I wasn't sure if God was into answering prayers exactly like that, but I was pleased that he was praying. I trust the depth of Calebs prayers will grow as he places his faith in Jesus and walks humbly with Jesus through this life. I also realize that God even cares about the little things that we care about. Like trying to get through Mario level 8 or being the example that little people can follow. I know I'm being watched.

just struck me funny...

So with Caleb in school all day now I have Joel all to myself on Tuesdays. Today we stopped in Tops to pick up some supper and as we were walking Joel says, "Dad, are you thinking what I'm thinking?!" I said, "Probably not. What are you thinking?!" His eyes had zeroed in on some cupcakes and that was what he was thinking. That certainly wasn't what I was thinking... the donuts were trying to get my attention at that moment. Thankfully we were able to escape the temptation before it became too much.

Seriously... how many 2 year olds say, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?!"

Cast your vote here...

Misc. Stuff

As the saying goes much water has passed under the bridge... and in some locations that water has taken out a bride or two... just not where I live. But I digress...

I'm thankful for the opportunities that I've gotten to lead worship at my church through Sept. 7th. I know our Worship Leader was needing a bit of a break and it worked out well.

So we've been busy this summer with all of these wonderful opportunities and I have gratefully offered them up to the Lord as an offering. I believe God has been honored and is pleased to receive the worship due his Name.

This past week Caleb started Kindergarten. We did the usual photos and video of him getting on the bus. What we didn't anticipate was the response of Joel, our almost 3 year old. Joel was ready to run after the bus to either get Caleb back or go with him! There were tears as I held him and then he went back in the house with Amy (mommy). I drove to the school to drop off Caleb's supplies and meet him at the bus as he got off. He was so surprised but very pleased to see me. We got to his room and got him all settled in. I left to take the camera back to Amy to show the pictures and video that I'd taken before heading to work.
So far things have gone well. We're only 4 days in, but it's been a good ride so far. (knock on wood...)

We are anticipating taking care of some home projects that have become an issue as of this past week. Thankfully my dad will be flying in to help with them the first part of October. I always learn more every time I work with him. I look forward to that time even though it will be a bit busy.

Lastly I trust that God will open a door of opportunity for me soon. I have been completely overwhelmed by the responses I've gotten about the speaking and music. In fact, Linda from my church said to me, "I've come to the conclusion that you need your own church to pastor!" All I know is that all things are in God's timing. My prayer is reflected in the lyrics by Charlie Hall "let your sovereign providential hand lead me."

Worship on the Water and such...

Last Sunday (August 10th) was my last time to speak at the Worship on the Water event. Being able to have three opportunities to speak and lead worship was tremendous! In reflecting on the times I've spoken this Summer and in the past 4 years I can say that these have been good and growth filled. It's humbling when you finish the service and hear people applaud. It's humbling because I know that the gifts are all from God. Anything good that happens is from God and the glory belongs to Him. That said, humanly speaking, it reaffirms the Calling of God on my life and the purposes that I said, "YES" to years ago. And the feedback that I've gotten has been encouraging. One comment this past week centered on how I've really improved in my delivery from the first time I spoke 4 summers ago until that day. The question I have to answer is, "Am I growing or staying stagnant?!" It's easy to just pull out an old message and polish it up, and I did that Sunday, but I also started a second message before that which I intend to finish! Given the opportunity to speak. I will do so. It's entitled , "The God Question".
It's a question that we all have to answer at some point, and one that deepens with every "yes".

Getting back to the original thought... as much as the people who came to hear me were blessed I would say that I've been just as blessed and encouraged. It affirms that God uses His people from his "catholic... universal" church. My church family has been so supportive also, but having people that are not directly related saying the same thing has to be a God thing. I've had people tell me that I need a church or that I should start a new work. We'll see what God has planned. As He opens the doors I'm going through!

Peace to you...

"Where is Jesus?"

Today I was having a small skirmish with my 5 year old about not bringing a toy into the grocery store. It was not going well. As I helped him out of the vehicle my 2 year old, Joel, suddenly asks, "Where is Jesus?'
I was immediately checked in my spirit about the bout I was finishing and then replied, "He's right here with us."

We might be asking the same question... "where is Jesus?" as we got news that my wife has an additional heart condition called Ventricular Tachycardia. It's a completely different part of the heart and explained why Amy was feeling pretty lousy in the past year with episodes of pressure coming up into her neck and feeling like she would black out. The condition can be fatal, but the doctor felt that as long as her heart was strong it would break out of the bad rhythm. Still it was a shock. In all of this I was reminded that Jesus is still right here. Nothing has essentially changed except that we know we must lean more heavily on Jesus than we have in the past. Faith isn't faith till it's exercised, and we are working those faith muscles right now. We trust that whatever happens that God will have His hand in it to bring good through the bad. He never wastes an opportunity to grow us into the image of Jesus.

Thanks for your prayers!
Lonnie

Added to schedule!

Just a quick update for August.

I will be speaking at the Worship on the Water Sunday at 8:45am as well as speaking at my church at the 10am service!

Also, I will be leading worship at my church (Cornerstone Community Church: see website: cornerstoneoncapen.com) August 17th and 24th! I hear the messages will be "wet" and hopefully 'whet' some appetites!

Thank you all for praying! God is doing things even now that we cannot see...

Oh... And we got pictures taken too!

Go to:

michaelalanphoto.net

You'll see that he has a blog and other information listed. In his blog he placed 4 pictures of us that he took on Tuesday July 22nd. There will be more coming, but for now it's a taste of what we experienced as we had our photo shoot at the Japanese Garden in Buffalo, NY.

ENJOY!
Lonnie